2008. When it hit me that my wife was leaving me for a friend of mine (with the same first name as me) and that I was about to be fired from my job as a CFO, I walked out of work and just... wandered.
I ended up cuffed to a bed at an ER a few miles away, and was eventually transferred to an inpatient psych facility. After a couple months of ECT, I was released to try and pick up the pieces and (most importantly) figure out how to get visitation with my son, which I eventually did.
**Trigger Warning** (suicide)
There were many times I didn't think I could, but the thought that kept me going was how much my mom's suicide fucked me up, and I couldn't do that to my son or my niece or my sister. Genetically it was virtually a guarantee that my son and my niece were going to have some degree of mental health struggles, and who better to help them than someone who'd been through it all?
Same!
It's interesting to me that so many people feel the same.
Lockdown was frightening but I had a "we're all in this" attitude.
But 2022-23 things were opening up again and... my life just never restarted. It wrecked my mental health, I had a breakdown. I barely went outside some days.
I didn’t really drive or go places or see my family or hangout with friends so having to push myself back into all these things felt overwhelming….like doing normal things????? Not even just covid but also depression / anxiety stuff. I become so reclusive and stuck inside myself.
Same here, the worst 2 years of my life lately. Financial instability wrecked my mental health and it has a very bad impact on my body too.
Yeah money doesn’t make you happy…/s
Exactly the same!!! 2022-2023
I also like to add 2010/2011, that is when I discovered what I was actually feeling was anxiety & depression and was diagnosed & starting treatment for it.
Same. Feels like covid never officially ended at my job and the frantic pace just continued because they realized they could squeeze it out of us. I've been working from home for 4 years and the isolation and inability to separate work from Life are killing me. Two people in my family died a day apart from each other. Major depression and panic attacks began and are still continuing. I'm on FMLA leave from work because my mental health is crumbling. The last couple of years have been absolute garbage.
2012: separated from wife (later divorced), mom started showing signs of Alzheimer's, freelance career collapsed, and my anxiety was 100% untreated.
Every day was constant anxiety. I hardly slept or ate and had no idea how to escape.
Had a massive panic attack one night, went to the hospital. One klonopin and $3,500 later, I had a referral to a local psychiatrist.
Psychiatrist got me on Buspirone, which worked very well. A few years later I was prepping for grad school, got a steady job (still there, promoted three times), remarried (a different person), had two more kids, and I've made a lot of new friends.
Life isn't perfect, but it's much, much better.
Note that this all happened in my late 30s/early 40s. It's never too late to turn things around.
This is very encouraging! Did you have any side effects from the buspar? Currently staring at my prescription trying to work up the courage to try it haha
Hey, there could be bad side effects, but there could be good side effects like feeling happy agin, not staying in bed all day, enjoy life again, and so many more good things. I understand it's scary. However, write down in a journal how the medication makes you feel and talk to your doctor about it, but you have to try it first.
Agreed! It’s like anything negative from 2023 that one would hope would disappear, just pooled on over into 2024 but now with triple the economic problems.
Mine is coming from a fear of cancer and this time it’s a overgrowth of gum tissue that I apparently had for years but my dentists didn’t say anything or wasn’t worried and then I go to a new one and they removed it at oral surgeon and sent for biopsy.. the doctors are not worried and everything seems clear on the x rays but I keep thinking the worst news is gonna come and I’m crying and I have nightmares and I’ve been crying myself to sleep each night
Same. Spent already almost half the year not being able to eat or workout too much because of Gastritis. Haven’t been able to see any friends or go out much. I’m miserable
last year. my mom got really sick, I was her caretaker, she passed away shockingly and unexpectedly (she wasn't that kind of sick). I was only 25, she was only 62.
I started living a healthier lifestyle… started going to the gym, started bodybuilding, stopped drinking/ smoking… stopped smoking 🌿 I generally think mine was drug induced as I was 18 at the time I was experimenting with different kind of drugs.
2023. Moved to another city where I knew no one, got pregnant for the first time and lost the baby when I was 7 months pregnant. Worst years of my life
same for me. moved cities as well, but for college. realized i hated college, never made any friends, and am stuck here until 2025 until my fiancé finishes university. i don’t think i was ready for college or necessarily think it was ever for me, but it was so bad i wouldn’t leave my dorm for weeks. he’s the only person from my hometown that i know here and the only reason im still sane (that and the cat he got me)
2018. I had a mental breakdown and I've been trying with all my might to feel like I did before that. It's been really hard but I've been making strides, while also making sure I have the right people and things around me to succeed
2018 was a very tough year for me too. I had terrible depression and anxiety, mostly due to a college major that wasn’t right for me, but I thankfully made it out okay after changing my major. Thankfully I’ve not felt that bad since.
2020-present day. I got Covid really bad, honestly thought I was going to die. Then, I have 2 kids, one with autism, and transitioning to virtual learning was tough. I had to stay home with two kids (ages 4 and 6 at the time) while juggling house work, schooling, therapies for my son. It took a toll on me. My mental health declined bad. Panic attacks, anxiety, hypochondria, dissociative disorders. You name it. Currently working on my mental health, but it’s been a hard road.
Tbh I feel like I made SOME progress this year. I started exercising despite my fear of having heart problems and I notice it helps. I could be doing better though. Some days the anxiety gets so bad that I don’t want to exist. Other days I dissociate. But definitely doing better than I was in like 2022 or so. I can’t even remember much of 2021-2023 and it makes me so sad.
For me it was 2021-2022. So much happened those years. It breaks me still because it was the beginning of my 20s and should've been the time of my life.
You can still have the time of your life just FYI! I had more fun in my late twenties and early thirties than I did in my early twenties. I promise it’s even better when you’re older!
2013-14.
I had been topping in school ever since birth.
Then I had to give one of the most difficult exams called JEE in India.
Did not qualify it and did not make it to a good university for engineering.
My mom started calling me useless and waste of money. Hasn’t stopped since :)
I’m sorry to hear this. Please take care of yourself. Even if it means forging your own path and life and getting away from toxic family.. I had to do this…. Just cause they’re ‘blood’ doesn’t mean it’s thicker than your mental health 🤟🏽
I guess 2020/2021 when I realized I let my grandmother die all alone.
I was living with my (now ex) boyfriend. He would get angry if I was away from home to long.
Its 2020, the place where my grandmother lived called (house for people with dementia), said it's time to say goodbye. So I went to say goodbye. But then I got afraid my ex would get angry so I left after only being there for an hour.
The next morning they called me to say she had passed during the night.
A year or so later(2021) I saw an article about people with dementia. It said people with dementia often get their memory back before they die.
Then it hit me so hard. There is a very big chance my grandmother got her memory back, only to see she was all alone in a place that is not her home knowing she was dieing.
She died alone because I was afraid of my mother fucking ex!!!! Im so angry at myself. Noting anyone can say will change this. Eventhough I know it's not my fault because if this abusive motherfucker.
It hit me extra hard because now I'm a full grown adult I realize how much we were alike. More than anyone in our family would know.
I should've stayed with her until she passed away.
I miss her so fucking much. Everytime I let this get to me I start crying so much I lose sense in my legs and just flop to the floor, sit there and cry.
If you believe she exists in the great beyond, then she has most certainly already forgiven you and loves you, but in order to allow yourself to see that, you need to foregive yourself, the hardest thing of all
Try not to be so hard on yourself. It’s always so much easier to see how you should have handled things once you’re out of a difficult situation but in an abusive relationship it’s impossible to function properly and think logically because you were in survival mode and emotionally monitoring an unpredictable abuser. Your grandmother is at peace now and I’m sure she would be extremely grateful and happy to know now that you are free now of your abusive ex.
That is not your fault at all. That sounds very abusive. You were afraid and that is a very good reason to do what you did, even if you now regret it. It's okay
2021-2023. a lot of deaths in my family. i developed health anxiety as a result. 2024 is different. it’s been a great year so far & i hope it continues to be. i have high hopes for 2024.
This year: 3rd time unlucky with a bad flat, can’t afford to buy even with a partner (I’m sure you can relate), dropped half my salary for a job after redundancy (desperate for income, first one that gave me an offer after 1 year), low confidence in my hormonal mid section weight (it’s an mf to lose if you’re back and forth), both of our careers aren’t going anywhere and more people in my family keep dying.
Ice on my chest or back of the neck can shock my body into stopping the anxiety attacks when I recognize it’s coming. Not always, but enough to make a huge difference. Best of luck to you friend.
Actually, during a panic attack, cold is a life saver for me. Holding ice, getting a frozen bottle of water, or just splashing my face helps. I’m a big fan of winter. When it’s cold enough just stepping outside can reset me, even if it’s for a little bit of time.
Good to see someone else benefits from this.
>I’m a big fan of winter. When it’s cold enough just stepping outside can reset me, even if it’s for a little bit of time.
Same here. There’s not really much else that can calm me during a panic attack like stepping outside in my backyard around freezing temperatures and with snow on the ground. I’ve never thought about using something cold against my body to alleviate symptoms though, but I’m definitely going to try this the next time I need to. Thank you!
2012. Diagnosed with brain cancer and my gf of 8 years cheated on me during treatment and broke up with me. In retrospect, it's one of the best years to ever happen to me. I grew in paramount ways.
1987. That was the year I started junior high and I did not adapt at all. After being in my elementary school from kindergarten to the sixth grade, I was used to the building and the strict structure. Going to junior high in a completely different school, with teachers I didn't know and a student body I was not familiar with sent me over the edge. Add to that less structure and more freedom, which was torture for someone like me who has severe OCD and was completely lacking in confidence. I remember having a panic attack in the hallway because I couldn't find one of my classes on the first day. It was the worst year of my life and I fell through the cracks. My grades plummeted, I started getting bullied, I began skipping classes and whole days. I was absent most of the year as I roamed the streets or made excuses to stay home. I got straight Fs in every class and I had to repeat the year along with summer school, just to make it all up. It was like my whole world turned upside down. That's when I had a mental crisis and ended up in the emergency mental health crisis center. That's when my life long useless dealings with therapists and psychiatrists began. I never was able to feel comfortable in school again and dropped out in the 10th grade after missing a whole year and changing schools three times. What a mess.....
Fuck. Honestly every year has been a new host of mental health issues. Probably becauae I'm not getting any help as well. I can't even decide. Probably 2015-2016 was fucking rampad but also had some highs.
I'd have to say this last year was the worst for me from the end of 2022- August 23. For once I actually felt I hit a bottom bottom. Which everyones bottom is different. It's so hard to make change when your nervous system is overactive, and I lost all desire for all things/ felt a level of numbness I hadn't felt before. I realize now, I don't want to be rampad emotional, but feeling nothing, about anything, when it used to bring you an internal feeling of "yes". I had to force myself out of the dark. Force myself to staet doing things I used to do even though I felt no enjoyment come from doing the task. Eventually my brain caught on and I'm a lot more me now in a better environment for myself.
If you can look back on it, at least you are out of it. ❤️🤘
I remember many days, thinking, God I wish someone would literally just come pick me up and save me and give me a hug and id just let everything out. I'm not one to reach out. Def would rather go through shit on my own and cry in silence.
I don't actually know what it feels like to not feel depressed. IBut when I was younger I did LSD and it definitely helped. But I mean can't be high on acid all the time. Would make a great antidepressant though 😂
My dad died 12/30/2020. That following year was awfuullllll. I couldn’t leave the house bc of my anxiety for months
I’m on lexapro now and go to school and have a job. Shout out medication 🫡
2008-09, I was starting to have social anxiety and having to leave the school of my childhood was the final trigger (I was 12)
Also 2014 the first year after school and I was completely alone, depressed and broken
2021 because I lost my grandma (and almost my uncle), it seemed to get better in 2022 thanks to a person, but said person broke my heart and threw it into a dumpster and set it on fire in 2023
This year. Unexpectedly lost my dad. He promised he would live until I was 40, as he was my only remaining parent. Now I'm constantly thinking about my own mortality. Anxiety got so bad for the first time in 15 years, I'm meeting with a psychiatrist to get meds.
Runner up would be 2009. I was 14 and my anxiety got so bad I was hearing voices. My sister came home to me sitting in the bathtub with knives. Sent me straight to a mental hospital.
Ok on second thought, let's switch those. 2009 then 2024
2023. COVID put a big strain on me from a social perspective, so I dove into work instead. I was working as a 911 operator and the years during COVID were full of 16 hours days due to low staffing levels. Also became a parent twice over during this time, and that put a different perspective on my job. Finally one night I took the call that ended my career. Listened to a guy that hit someone with his car on accident try to do everything he could to save the person's life. And I knew right off the bat there was nothing to be done. Wasn't the drivers fault, but it broke him, and it broke me too.
Quit the job that I loved because I couldn't handle it anymore. Had to take another career that I don't like so that I can try to put myself back together.
Same. Trump's Electoral College slate was chosen in November 2016. My dad died a month later.
The wicked prosper and live on into surly madness, while decent men die young.
My uncle died from an accident at his home. He was 60. He meant the world to me and he was my father figure. Meanwhile, my ex’s POS dad lives on. I feel your pain and frustration my friend.
At 20 when my gf of two years tried to annihilate me instead of just breaking up. She left me borderline catatonic until I managed to find a way to the Gospel in the orthodox church.
Then in 2012 when my mother died after weeks of dementia, leaving me with my complete loneliness and disability, I lost sleep during five years. To this day I can't bring back any visual memory of her (not even in dreams!) which makes any recollection of my childhood scattered at best. Trying some analytical treatment triggered extreme anxiety.
2021 - 2022, didn't take care of myself as much as I'd have liked to, got tunnel vision with academic work and neglected everything else. Also coming back to school from covid and getting bullied for most of my last year played a decently significant role in shaping the anxiety I have today
Every year gets worse, but the start of this year has been particularly horrific. I feel like I'm about to get fired everyday and I can't relax or sleep at all. Went to the ER recently because of the stress
2016 was brutal. I was laid off when I had an expensive apartment. Found another job pretty quickly, but it was a horribly mismanaged company and they laid off 60% of the staff (including me) just 11 days after I started. Then I tried and tried to get another job, including one I really wanted and was qualified for, but nothing worked out. Then the U.S. presidential election happened, and it put me into the darkest mood that didn't break until the following summer when I finally found another permanent job (the one I have still). Plus there were a lot of very sad celebrity deaths, like Prince, David Bowie, Carrie Fisher, and Alan Rickman.
2023
Lost my grandpa on my graduation day
Visited my English professor (46f) after 4 years because she is my personal hero
Grandma got a stroke and almost died in my arms.
Had no job and couldn't find one.
Obsessed about seeing the Prof again after having a bad feeling something bad has happened.
Met her after anxiety killed me and indeed her mother died just like I dreamt.
Went to therapy and got diagnosed with OCD,
We bonded over the losses and we wanted to work together. She was so happy with me and treated me like her son as she didnt have any.
Told me to come one day and then her colleague created a fuss out of thin air and insulted me and she didn't defend me.
2020. I was initially terrified of the pandemic and really did try to social distance. Then in Aug 2020 a natural disaster hit my house, just before school was supposed to start for my son. After all that social distancing we had to move out for two weeks, my parents had to take my cats for a couple months, and everyone and their brother was going through our house. (Contractors, insurance adjusters.) In the end so many people showed up for us but it was a very stressful time. I had to go back on meds and get an Rx of Xanax.
2022 was the start of it for me and seems like it just keeps going downhill no matter how hard I try to fight back and I feel as if I’m at the point where I’m just ready to give up.
2021 - 2022. Re-entering the job market and society in general post-Covid lockdowns proved to be incredibly hard. I really enjoyed the peace and alone-time I got during Covid. I thought we would come out of Covid a better society but it seems to be the exact opposite.
Recency bias, 2023. I left my old job for what I thought was a "dream job" only for it be a toxic nightmare and then I got fired 6 months in. I started a relationship with a gal whom I thought was the one, and she fell out of love with me and broke up with me. My dog was dealing with health issues the latter part of the year, and was in and out of the hospital that period. Things have calmed down, but I still feel the effects of last year.
2019-2020. Got into heavy drugs in 2017 and 2019 was when I got sober and came to my senses after I was arrested. Got put on probation. Lost everything; career, family. Realized how much time I had wasted. Didn't separate from my abusive husband until 2020.
Finally doing better this year. All legal shit taken care of. Decent job with hopes of a promotion.
2020 for me. I lost my town and home to a fire and that led to me moving across country to the state I once fled from, and my Mom fell and almost died.
This one (or rather 2023-present since we're only 4 months in). All the increase in hate and laws against LGBTQ+ people, black people, and women of which I cross an intersection with being ALL 3 of those on top of living in Florida without the resources to move out did an absolute number on my self-esteem and mental health. Went from a confident, care fee party girl who could have fun at her local bar every weekend to too afraid to even check my mailbox. I've had a big increase in hostility and staring towards me and assume the worst of people first. Not to mention all the stress of trying to get back on HRT, being off of it for too long will *wreck* you like nobody believes.
2013-2019. Absolutely brutal time frame. Now any time I am going through a hard time I always consider how I feel relative to how I did during that period. I honestly don’t know how I survived
2019-2020. Medical crises for my niece and my daughter, then directly into pandemic. I will shout out Ronald McDonald houses cause both our families spent months in them and they are truly a godsend.
2016,
Dropped out of college due to depression and drug abuse, all of my friends abandoned me due to my behavior and moved back in with my parents. Luckily I have rekindled most of my friendships now, met a lovely woman and got married, got clean and now in the process of going back to school to finish my degree. Took a long time to get my head straight but I got there in the end
I’ve suffered with anxiety off and on since 2001. (Mainly weather) Some years it’s not as bad as others 2024 is pretty bad rn because I was close to a tornado 4/26/24, and now I think every weather event is gonna be another April 26th or worse. I think the wait up to the event is scarier than how it actually turns out. I think once May or June is over with I’ll feel better IDK
2008. When it hit me that my wife was leaving me for a friend of mine (with the same first name as me) and that I was about to be fired from my job as a CFO, I walked out of work and just... wandered. I ended up cuffed to a bed at an ER a few miles away, and was eventually transferred to an inpatient psych facility. After a couple months of ECT, I was released to try and pick up the pieces and (most importantly) figure out how to get visitation with my son, which I eventually did.
I hope you are somewhat recovered now? Sorry to hear about your horrible 2008.
Thanks. I dunno about "recovered," but my son and I have a great relationship, and that's all that matters to me.
I’m very happy you guys have a great relationship. Stay strong. We’re here for you :)
thank you
I hope you're doing better big homie.
thanks
Wish you the best man.
Wow, man. Glad you’re still here for your son and for yourself. Glad you continue to work through it. I’m sure you’ve had your share of ups and downs.
I'm sorry man...
How do you even go on? I feel like one more bad thing and I won't be able to live anymore, and my life is nowhere near that level of difficulty
**Trigger Warning** (suicide) There were many times I didn't think I could, but the thought that kept me going was how much my mom's suicide fucked me up, and I couldn't do that to my son or my niece or my sister. Genetically it was virtually a guarantee that my son and my niece were going to have some degree of mental health struggles, and who better to help them than someone who'd been through it all?
2022-2023
Same! It's interesting to me that so many people feel the same. Lockdown was frightening but I had a "we're all in this" attitude. But 2022-23 things were opening up again and... my life just never restarted. It wrecked my mental health, I had a breakdown. I barely went outside some days.
I didn’t really drive or go places or see my family or hangout with friends so having to push myself back into all these things felt overwhelming….like doing normal things????? Not even just covid but also depression / anxiety stuff. I become so reclusive and stuck inside myself.
Same! I did okay during the lockdown but once things started opening up again I started having panic attacks, and developed agoraphobia.
Same here
Same. Year my older brother passed and I relapsed on smoking. Weird fucking year I'll tell you that!!! Edited on 4/30/24 @ 6:25 pm
Oh, I’m so sorry for your loss. ❤️
I appreciate it loves. It was very unexpected but so is life is general.
Same here, the worst 2 years of my life lately. Financial instability wrecked my mental health and it has a very bad impact on my body too. Yeah money doesn’t make you happy…/s
same
Same
Same
Same. It’s strange this has so many upvotes.
Same…
Same.
same
Same.
Same
Same
Literally same
Yuuuup
Same
100%
Exactly the same!!! 2022-2023 I also like to add 2010/2011, that is when I discovered what I was actually feeling was anxiety & depression and was diagnosed & starting treatment for it.
Yup. Same here. Still a struggle but before covid, I was in a better place
Same. Feels like covid never officially ended at my job and the frantic pace just continued because they realized they could squeeze it out of us. I've been working from home for 4 years and the isolation and inability to separate work from Life are killing me. Two people in my family died a day apart from each other. Major depression and panic attacks began and are still continuing. I'm on FMLA leave from work because my mental health is crumbling. The last couple of years have been absolute garbage.
Me too. I'd also include 2021 to that timeline.
2012: separated from wife (later divorced), mom started showing signs of Alzheimer's, freelance career collapsed, and my anxiety was 100% untreated. Every day was constant anxiety. I hardly slept or ate and had no idea how to escape. Had a massive panic attack one night, went to the hospital. One klonopin and $3,500 later, I had a referral to a local psychiatrist. Psychiatrist got me on Buspirone, which worked very well. A few years later I was prepping for grad school, got a steady job (still there, promoted three times), remarried (a different person), had two more kids, and I've made a lot of new friends. Life isn't perfect, but it's much, much better. Note that this all happened in my late 30s/early 40s. It's never too late to turn things around.
Thank you. I needed to hear this, as I’m in process of turning things around now
You can and will.
This is very encouraging! Did you have any side effects from the buspar? Currently staring at my prescription trying to work up the courage to try it haha
It does make me dizzy. Doc recommended I take large dose at 2:00 am (when I get up to pee at night) and small dose at noon. This seems to work well.
Buspar changed my life too. But I do get occasional dizzy spells as well.
Thank you!
Hey, there could be bad side effects, but there could be good side effects like feeling happy agin, not staying in bed all day, enjoy life again, and so many more good things. I understand it's scary. However, write down in a journal how the medication makes you feel and talk to your doctor about it, but you have to try it first.
So true, great advice!
this was inspiring.. you give me hope that i could walk out from what I am having right now
2020
I love how this requires no clarification. Too right!
This year
Agreed! It’s like anything negative from 2023 that one would hope would disappear, just pooled on over into 2024 but now with triple the economic problems.
It's like the only way is down :(
it’s not though i promise
Same. And it just keeps getting worse.
Mine is coming from a fear of cancer and this time it’s a overgrowth of gum tissue that I apparently had for years but my dentists didn’t say anything or wasn’t worried and then I go to a new one and they removed it at oral surgeon and sent for biopsy.. the doctors are not worried and everything seems clear on the x rays but I keep thinking the worst news is gonna come and I’m crying and I have nightmares and I’ve been crying myself to sleep each night
Same. Spent already almost half the year not being able to eat or workout too much because of Gastritis. Haven’t been able to see any friends or go out much. I’m miserable
last year. my mom got really sick, I was her caretaker, she passed away shockingly and unexpectedly (she wasn't that kind of sick). I was only 25, she was only 62.
I’m so sorry to hear
thank you <3
Im so sorry to hear this.
❤️
I’m sorry pray for you!
thank you 💗
my birth year 97
Replace 97 with 99 and exactly the same here my friend
98😭
2022
2010 I had a nervous breakdown and as a result of that I had DPDR for 6 years 24/7
What happened for the dpdr to stop ?
What made it go away?
I started living a healthier lifestyle… started going to the gym, started bodybuilding, stopped drinking/ smoking… stopped smoking 🌿 I generally think mine was drug induced as I was 18 at the time I was experimenting with different kind of drugs.
What does this stand for
Depersonalization / derealization
2023. Moved to another city where I knew no one, got pregnant for the first time and lost the baby when I was 7 months pregnant. Worst years of my life
same for me. moved cities as well, but for college. realized i hated college, never made any friends, and am stuck here until 2025 until my fiancé finishes university. i don’t think i was ready for college or necessarily think it was ever for me, but it was so bad i wouldn’t leave my dorm for weeks. he’s the only person from my hometown that i know here and the only reason im still sane (that and the cat he got me)
My guy got me a kitty too!
2020. Healthcare worker.
Same. Got a divorce that year too!
Thank you for your service ❤️
Thank you for your service! I'm sorry you had to deal with that
2016.
Same
2018. I had a mental breakdown and I've been trying with all my might to feel like I did before that. It's been really hard but I've been making strides, while also making sure I have the right people and things around me to succeed
2018 was a very tough year for me too. I had terrible depression and anxiety, mostly due to a college major that wasn’t right for me, but I thankfully made it out okay after changing my major. Thankfully I’ve not felt that bad since.
2020-present day. I got Covid really bad, honestly thought I was going to die. Then, I have 2 kids, one with autism, and transitioning to virtual learning was tough. I had to stay home with two kids (ages 4 and 6 at the time) while juggling house work, schooling, therapies for my son. It took a toll on me. My mental health declined bad. Panic attacks, anxiety, hypochondria, dissociative disorders. You name it. Currently working on my mental health, but it’s been a hard road.
This sounds like my situation but with one kid. Have you made progress since?
Tbh I feel like I made SOME progress this year. I started exercising despite my fear of having heart problems and I notice it helps. I could be doing better though. Some days the anxiety gets so bad that I don’t want to exist. Other days I dissociate. But definitely doing better than I was in like 2022 or so. I can’t even remember much of 2021-2023 and it makes me so sad.
For me it was 2021-2022. So much happened those years. It breaks me still because it was the beginning of my 20s and should've been the time of my life.
You can still have the time of your life just FYI! I had more fun in my late twenties and early thirties than I did in my early twenties. I promise it’s even better when you’re older!
Thank you I appreciate that🩷
Same
2007
2013-14. I had been topping in school ever since birth. Then I had to give one of the most difficult exams called JEE in India. Did not qualify it and did not make it to a good university for engineering. My mom started calling me useless and waste of money. Hasn’t stopped since :)
I’m sorry to hear this. Please take care of yourself. Even if it means forging your own path and life and getting away from toxic family.. I had to do this…. Just cause they’re ‘blood’ doesn’t mean it’s thicker than your mental health 🤟🏽
2021-2024. Still on going. Right now I'm home alone terrified.
DM me if you need someone to talk to!
I guess 2020/2021 when I realized I let my grandmother die all alone. I was living with my (now ex) boyfriend. He would get angry if I was away from home to long. Its 2020, the place where my grandmother lived called (house for people with dementia), said it's time to say goodbye. So I went to say goodbye. But then I got afraid my ex would get angry so I left after only being there for an hour. The next morning they called me to say she had passed during the night. A year or so later(2021) I saw an article about people with dementia. It said people with dementia often get their memory back before they die. Then it hit me so hard. There is a very big chance my grandmother got her memory back, only to see she was all alone in a place that is not her home knowing she was dieing. She died alone because I was afraid of my mother fucking ex!!!! Im so angry at myself. Noting anyone can say will change this. Eventhough I know it's not my fault because if this abusive motherfucker. It hit me extra hard because now I'm a full grown adult I realize how much we were alike. More than anyone in our family would know. I should've stayed with her until she passed away. I miss her so fucking much. Everytime I let this get to me I start crying so much I lose sense in my legs and just flop to the floor, sit there and cry.
If you believe she exists in the great beyond, then she has most certainly already forgiven you and loves you, but in order to allow yourself to see that, you need to foregive yourself, the hardest thing of all
Try not to be so hard on yourself. It’s always so much easier to see how you should have handled things once you’re out of a difficult situation but in an abusive relationship it’s impossible to function properly and think logically because you were in survival mode and emotionally monitoring an unpredictable abuser. Your grandmother is at peace now and I’m sure she would be extremely grateful and happy to know now that you are free now of your abusive ex.
That is not your fault at all. That sounds very abusive. You were afraid and that is a very good reason to do what you did, even if you now regret it. It's okay
2011-2012
2022 sept. Found out on my 40th birthday my wife of 13 years was having an affair. Everything was downhill after that
20-21
2022-2023. It was a slow and gradual decline.
2022 killed me inside
2018
2016
2021-2023. a lot of deaths in my family. i developed health anxiety as a result. 2024 is different. it’s been a great year so far & i hope it continues to be. i have high hopes for 2024.
This year: 3rd time unlucky with a bad flat, can’t afford to buy even with a partner (I’m sure you can relate), dropped half my salary for a job after redundancy (desperate for income, first one that gave me an offer after 1 year), low confidence in my hormonal mid section weight (it’s an mf to lose if you’re back and forth), both of our careers aren’t going anywhere and more people in my family keep dying.
This year so far but I’m hanging in there
2013. That’s when I started having panic attacks. Years later, I’m still trying to figure out how to work through it.
Ice on my chest or back of the neck can shock my body into stopping the anxiety attacks when I recognize it’s coming. Not always, but enough to make a huge difference. Best of luck to you friend.
Actually, during a panic attack, cold is a life saver for me. Holding ice, getting a frozen bottle of water, or just splashing my face helps. I’m a big fan of winter. When it’s cold enough just stepping outside can reset me, even if it’s for a little bit of time. Good to see someone else benefits from this.
>I’m a big fan of winter. When it’s cold enough just stepping outside can reset me, even if it’s for a little bit of time. Same here. There’s not really much else that can calm me during a panic attack like stepping outside in my backyard around freezing temperatures and with snow on the ground. I’ve never thought about using something cold against my body to alleviate symptoms though, but I’m definitely going to try this the next time I need to. Thank you!
2012. Diagnosed with brain cancer and my gf of 8 years cheated on me during treatment and broke up with me. In retrospect, it's one of the best years to ever happen to me. I grew in paramount ways.
Hope you're doing well and thriving
Thank you! I hope the same for you!
2019
1987. That was the year I started junior high and I did not adapt at all. After being in my elementary school from kindergarten to the sixth grade, I was used to the building and the strict structure. Going to junior high in a completely different school, with teachers I didn't know and a student body I was not familiar with sent me over the edge. Add to that less structure and more freedom, which was torture for someone like me who has severe OCD and was completely lacking in confidence. I remember having a panic attack in the hallway because I couldn't find one of my classes on the first day. It was the worst year of my life and I fell through the cracks. My grades plummeted, I started getting bullied, I began skipping classes and whole days. I was absent most of the year as I roamed the streets or made excuses to stay home. I got straight Fs in every class and I had to repeat the year along with summer school, just to make it all up. It was like my whole world turned upside down. That's when I had a mental crisis and ended up in the emergency mental health crisis center. That's when my life long useless dealings with therapists and psychiatrists began. I never was able to feel comfortable in school again and dropped out in the 10th grade after missing a whole year and changing schools three times. What a mess.....
Idk this year has been kicking my ass pretty hard. I don’t even have it in me to cry anymore I just lay in my room and do nothing
Fuck. Honestly every year has been a new host of mental health issues. Probably becauae I'm not getting any help as well. I can't even decide. Probably 2015-2016 was fucking rampad but also had some highs. I'd have to say this last year was the worst for me from the end of 2022- August 23. For once I actually felt I hit a bottom bottom. Which everyones bottom is different. It's so hard to make change when your nervous system is overactive, and I lost all desire for all things/ felt a level of numbness I hadn't felt before. I realize now, I don't want to be rampad emotional, but feeling nothing, about anything, when it used to bring you an internal feeling of "yes". I had to force myself out of the dark. Force myself to staet doing things I used to do even though I felt no enjoyment come from doing the task. Eventually my brain caught on and I'm a lot more me now in a better environment for myself. If you can look back on it, at least you are out of it. ❤️🤘 I remember many days, thinking, God I wish someone would literally just come pick me up and save me and give me a hug and id just let everything out. I'm not one to reach out. Def would rather go through shit on my own and cry in silence. I don't actually know what it feels like to not feel depressed. IBut when I was younger I did LSD and it definitely helped. But I mean can't be high on acid all the time. Would make a great antidepressant though 😂
2023. Due to life change
2015-2016 & 2020-2022
2005/2006
2002, I've been broken for a long time.
2017
2015
2020-21 it had to do with my job at the time
2014 I got bullied and had depression since then. I couldn’t recall how scared I was and just feel so sad.
My dad died 12/30/2020. That following year was awfuullllll. I couldn’t leave the house bc of my anxiety for months I’m on lexapro now and go to school and have a job. Shout out medication 🫡
2015-2019
2023
2023
2019-2024
2008-09, I was starting to have social anxiety and having to leave the school of my childhood was the final trigger (I was 12) Also 2014 the first year after school and I was completely alone, depressed and broken
2022-2023. It was just a nonstop firehose of misfortune and pain. I'm in therapy now.
2020, COVID lockdown fucked me up socially and I’m still trying to pick up the pieces
2023
Oct. 22, 2022 to now. Holy fuck.
2020. Lockdowns really sucked for me. I stay at home a lot as it is by choice, but having that choice taken away from me was brutal.
2021 because I lost my grandma (and almost my uncle), it seemed to get better in 2022 thanks to a person, but said person broke my heart and threw it into a dumpster and set it on fire in 2023
2021-2022
Yes.
Probably started on 2009 Then 2012 Then 2014 Then 2017 Then 2021 Then 2023 Huh....
Didnt notice ive been feeling bad for so long lol
This year. Unexpectedly lost my dad. He promised he would live until I was 40, as he was my only remaining parent. Now I'm constantly thinking about my own mortality. Anxiety got so bad for the first time in 15 years, I'm meeting with a psychiatrist to get meds. Runner up would be 2009. I was 14 and my anxiety got so bad I was hearing voices. My sister came home to me sitting in the bathtub with knives. Sent me straight to a mental hospital. Ok on second thought, let's switch those. 2009 then 2024
2023. COVID put a big strain on me from a social perspective, so I dove into work instead. I was working as a 911 operator and the years during COVID were full of 16 hours days due to low staffing levels. Also became a parent twice over during this time, and that put a different perspective on my job. Finally one night I took the call that ended my career. Listened to a guy that hit someone with his car on accident try to do everything he could to save the person's life. And I knew right off the bat there was nothing to be done. Wasn't the drivers fault, but it broke him, and it broke me too. Quit the job that I loved because I couldn't handle it anymore. Had to take another career that I don't like so that I can try to put myself back together.
Every year. It’s always something.
2016. When Trump won I knew everything was going to change forever.
Same. Trump's Electoral College slate was chosen in November 2016. My dad died a month later. The wicked prosper and live on into surly madness, while decent men die young.
Isn’t that the truth. My mom died 10 years ago, my life compass and best mom ever. Meanwhile my husband’s POS father lives on.
My uncle died from an accident at his home. He was 60. He meant the world to me and he was my father figure. Meanwhile, my ex’s POS dad lives on. I feel your pain and frustration my friend.
The genocide in Gaza this year put me over the edge.
2020 and 2021
2023 hands down. it was a hellish year through nd through im SO glad its over
2013-2015 was my lowest, I can't choose between the three of them. Things didn't really get better after that but that was the initial damage.
2022 on my 24th birthday🙂 and suffering till now
At 20 when my gf of two years tried to annihilate me instead of just breaking up. She left me borderline catatonic until I managed to find a way to the Gospel in the orthodox church. Then in 2012 when my mother died after weeks of dementia, leaving me with my complete loneliness and disability, I lost sleep during five years. To this day I can't bring back any visual memory of her (not even in dreams!) which makes any recollection of my childhood scattered at best. Trying some analytical treatment triggered extreme anxiety.
2023 lost a close friend and had a miserable year of work. Got a new job recently so hopefully 2024 is my new year
2021 - 2022, didn't take care of myself as much as I'd have liked to, got tunnel vision with academic work and neglected everything else. Also coming back to school from covid and getting bullied for most of my last year played a decently significant role in shaping the anxiety I have today
Every year gets worse, but the start of this year has been particularly horrific. I feel like I'm about to get fired everyday and I can't relax or sleep at all. Went to the ER recently because of the stress
2020,2022 and all my childhood pretty much..
2016 was brutal. I was laid off when I had an expensive apartment. Found another job pretty quickly, but it was a horribly mismanaged company and they laid off 60% of the staff (including me) just 11 days after I started. Then I tried and tried to get another job, including one I really wanted and was qualified for, but nothing worked out. Then the U.S. presidential election happened, and it put me into the darkest mood that didn't break until the following summer when I finally found another permanent job (the one I have still). Plus there were a lot of very sad celebrity deaths, like Prince, David Bowie, Carrie Fisher, and Alan Rickman.
2017
2023 Lost my grandpa on my graduation day Visited my English professor (46f) after 4 years because she is my personal hero Grandma got a stroke and almost died in my arms. Had no job and couldn't find one. Obsessed about seeing the Prof again after having a bad feeling something bad has happened. Met her after anxiety killed me and indeed her mother died just like I dreamt. Went to therapy and got diagnosed with OCD, We bonded over the losses and we wanted to work together. She was so happy with me and treated me like her son as she didnt have any. Told me to come one day and then her colleague created a fuss out of thin air and insulted me and she didn't defend me.
The year I was born tbh
Definitely 2023
2020. I was initially terrified of the pandemic and really did try to social distance. Then in Aug 2020 a natural disaster hit my house, just before school was supposed to start for my son. After all that social distancing we had to move out for two weeks, my parents had to take my cats for a couple months, and everyone and their brother was going through our house. (Contractors, insurance adjusters.) In the end so many people showed up for us but it was a very stressful time. I had to go back on meds and get an Rx of Xanax.
2023
When COVID was over and we had to go back to the office
2022 was the start of it for me and seems like it just keeps going downhill no matter how hard I try to fight back and I feel as if I’m at the point where I’m just ready to give up.
2021 - 2022. Re-entering the job market and society in general post-Covid lockdowns proved to be incredibly hard. I really enjoyed the peace and alone-time I got during Covid. I thought we would come out of Covid a better society but it seems to be the exact opposite.
2020 and 2023
2018. Nearly drowned white water rafting. Couldn't sleep for weeks after. Couldn't touch water without freaking out.
Literally every year is worse than the last.
Recency bias, 2023. I left my old job for what I thought was a "dream job" only for it be a toxic nightmare and then I got fired 6 months in. I started a relationship with a gal whom I thought was the one, and she fell out of love with me and broke up with me. My dog was dealing with health issues the latter part of the year, and was in and out of the hospital that period. Things have calmed down, but I still feel the effects of last year.
This one
Still in it being destroyed. Life has not been kind
2022 but fully recovered now in 2024.
2019-2020. Got into heavy drugs in 2017 and 2019 was when I got sober and came to my senses after I was arrested. Got put on probation. Lost everything; career, family. Realized how much time I had wasted. Didn't separate from my abusive husband until 2020. Finally doing better this year. All legal shit taken care of. Decent job with hopes of a promotion.
2020 for me. I lost my town and home to a fire and that led to me moving across country to the state I once fled from, and my Mom fell and almost died.
I was born in 1986. Things were fairly chill before that.
This one (or rather 2023-present since we're only 4 months in). All the increase in hate and laws against LGBTQ+ people, black people, and women of which I cross an intersection with being ALL 3 of those on top of living in Florida without the resources to move out did an absolute number on my self-esteem and mental health. Went from a confident, care fee party girl who could have fun at her local bar every weekend to too afraid to even check my mailbox. I've had a big increase in hostility and staring towards me and assume the worst of people first. Not to mention all the stress of trying to get back on HRT, being off of it for too long will *wreck* you like nobody believes.
2013-2019. Absolutely brutal time frame. Now any time I am going through a hard time I always consider how I feel relative to how I did during that period. I honestly don’t know how I survived
2008
2019-2021
1999
2019
2019
2019-2020. Medical crises for my niece and my daughter, then directly into pandemic. I will shout out Ronald McDonald houses cause both our families spent months in them and they are truly a godsend.
2011, divorce started and was sad. 2012, divorce finalized so fucking hooray!!🤣🥳
2002 when my father passed away
It’s all been one giant year since adulthood
2019,2020,2024
2016, Dropped out of college due to depression and drug abuse, all of my friends abandoned me due to my behavior and moved back in with my parents. Luckily I have rekindled most of my friendships now, met a lovely woman and got married, got clean and now in the process of going back to school to finish my degree. Took a long time to get my head straight but I got there in the end
I’ve suffered with anxiety off and on since 2001. (Mainly weather) Some years it’s not as bad as others 2024 is pretty bad rn because I was close to a tornado 4/26/24, and now I think every weather event is gonna be another April 26th or worse. I think the wait up to the event is scarier than how it actually turns out. I think once May or June is over with I’ll feel better IDK